One well recognized technique for repair of an aortic aneurism is to surgically repair the aortic artery by cutting out the diseased portion of the artery and replacing it with a prosthetic graft. Various size and shape grafts are well known for use depending upon where the aneurism in the artery occurs. Representative prior art patents that discuss non-surgical repair of an aortic aneurism include U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,631 to Kreamer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,126 to Choudhury; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,596 to Kornberg. Each of these devices can be inserted into a damaged region by means of catheter inserted into the femoral artery in the patient's leg and routed up the body to the vicinity of the aortic aneurism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,001 to Garrison et al. concerns a vascular catheter, including an expandable wire cage mounted on the distal end of a tubular member. There is no mention in the '001 patent for use of this device in repairing a damaged aortic artery. The expandable wire cage holds open a blood vessel and allows perfusion of blood through the blood vessel.
Experience with sutureless graft replacement of the descending thoracic aorta is discussed in a paper to Oz et al. entitled "Twelve-Year Experience with Intraluminal Sutureless Ringed Graft Replacement of the Descending Thoracic and Thoracoabdominal Aortic" (Journal of Vascular Surgery, Volume 11, No. 2, February 1990). A similar development is disclosed in an article to Matsumae et al. entitled "An Experimental Study of a New Sutureless Intraluminal Graft with an Elastic Ring that Can Attach Itself to the Vessel Wall" (Journal of Vascular Surgery, July 1988).
In an article entitled "Percutaneously Placed Endovascular Grafts for Aortic Aneurisms Feasibility Study" to Mirich et al., self-expanding endovascular grafts are described for insertion within a region of an aortic aneurism. The article discusses a self-expanding metallic stent covered with a nylon material. The nylon material acts as a support and template for encasement, enabling formation of vascular lumen within the aortic artery. This work is reported in Radiology, 1989, Volume 170, Pages 1033-1037.